LGBTQ rights group wants Canada to ban Fox News Channel for anti-trans claims
An LGBTQ rights organization wants Canada to ban Fox News from TV programming over anti-trans comments.
In an open letter to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), Egale Canada is calling on the regulator to begin public consultations on the removal of Fox News from a list of non-Canadian programming authorized for distribution in the country.
The letter comes after the advocacy group and a prominent Canadian leader for trans rights was featured on Tucker Carlson Tonight on Fox News in March.
“The coverage aimed to provoke hatred and violence against 2SLGBTQI communities, particularly those who are Two Spirit, trans, nonbinary and gender non-conforming (2STNBGN),” reads the letter, written by Egale Canada executive director Helen Kennedy.
Egale Canada is calling on @CRTCeng to begin public consultations on the removal of Fox News from the list of non-Canadian programming authorized for distribution in Canada.
Read our open letter to the CRTC: https://t.co/mhBuyUcHG9 pic.twitter.com/5huroyt78n
— Egale Canada (@egalecanada) April 4, 2023
Egale says Carlson made “false and horrifying claims” about 2STNBGN people, “painting them as violent and dangerous.”
Kennedy writes that during the segment, the Fox News host made an “inflammatory and false claim” that trans people are “targeting” Christians.
“To position trans people in existential opposition to Christianity is an incitement of violence against trans people that is plain to any viewer,” reads the letter.
The segment contained other “malicious misinformation” about 2STNBGN people, including that trans people are given preferential treatment in employment and other opportunities.
“This is clearly an attempt to stoke resentment against 2STNBGN people,” she wrote.
In addition, the letter says Egale’s name and logo were used during the segment in connection with its recent open letter, which noted “an exponential rise in anti-2SLGBTQI, hate-fueled movements and protests.”
Carlson stated, “This is a lie,” questioning the organization’s credibility.
The CRTC has a database of non-Canadian TV programs authorized for distribution in Canada called “the List.”
Egale wants the regulator to remove Fox News from that list for going against section 5 (b) of the Television Broadcasting Regulations.
The section states that broadcasters can be fined or even lose their license for showing an “abusive pictorial representation that, when taken in context, tends to or is likely to expose an individual or a group or class of individuals to hatred or contempt on the basis of race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age or mental or physical disability.”
“Egale has experienced firsthand the hate that is generated from a single segment aired on Fox News in Canada,” reads the open letter. “We cannot begin to imagine the broader impacts and potential rise in hate that might result from allowing more content like this to air in Canada.”
The CRTC has removed programming from this authorized list before.
In March 2022, the agency removed two major Russian state-backed TV networks shortly after the war on Ukraine began.
This open letter comes as the United States sees a rise in bills trying to limit transgender rights.
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